Holidays to Remember
by Mrs.GeorgeWeasleby
Summary: Every year since they met, the Mauraders have spent Christmas together. These are the stories of those Christmas days they spent together. All are from James point of view. Enjoy!Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line.
1. First Year

Christmas

Year 1

James

It's my first Christmas away from home. I feel so…grown up. Yes, I know that I'm only 11 and I'm still at school this Christmas because my parents wanted to Christmas in the Bahamas. I wanted snow. So, three of my roommates and I stayed. I can't say I know why Remus or Peter stayed behind; especially Remus, with his sick mom and all. Sirius just doesn't like his family, we all know that.

"Present time! Present time!" I guess Sirius is awake. I should join in too. It's what they expect, isn't it?

"Present time! Present time!" First, Sirius and I jump up and down on Remus' bed. We know it'd bug him the most.

"Get off me, idiots. I'm up, I'm up." Remus' voice is muffled 'cause he's hiding under the sheets.

Sirius and I look at each other and shrug. That shrug means it's time to move onto Pete's bed.

We pull back the red hangings around his bed, but he isn't there… Weird.

"Peeete? Oh, Pete! Come out, come out where ever you are!" Sirius sings in a way that only he can make not obnoxious.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Sirius and I glance at each other and in a split second, we're each on one side of the door ready to tackle Pete the second he got in here. The door swung open and… Shit! That's not Pete. It's little Miss Perfect, Lily Evans. I'm still in my pajamas!

"Couldn't resist us, Evans?" Sirius drawls with that ever-so-charming smile of his.

"Not at all, Black. I actually came up here to tell you morons that some of us enjoy our sleep, even on Christmas morning!" Her eyes were locked on Sirius and I. She has pretty eyes. It's time to turn on the charm.

"You know, Sirius" I say, "I think you're right. Evans just couldn't resist me. I mean, just look at me. She wants me to ask her out. What do you say, Lily-kins? Can you handle this?" I know I sound obnoxiously like Sirius, but I don't care. These girls swoon over Sirius all the time.

"Potter! I expect that kind of thing from Black, but not you. No wonder you all get along so well. And, Peter is downstairs wrapping your presents. Poor boy has been up all night trying to get it just right." She spat as us, then her eyes fell on Remus. "Oh, Remus. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at _you_."

Why didn't she mean to yell at Remus? Does she like Remus? I'll tell the guys that I plan to marry her, as soon as she's out of hearing distance. I listen to her footsteps get farther and farther away until I can't hear them anymore. I boldly turn to the room, and I say "Boys, I'm going to marry her one day. Just you wait."

Sirius snorts in disbelief. "She hates us, Jamesie. It's not likely to happen."

I look at him with mock anger, "That's what you think!" I lunge at him and soon we're on a full out fake fist fight. We stop in the middle and remember its Christmas and we have presents waiting downstairs for us.

Sirius and I race each other along the corridor, and down the stairs. Remus follows us at his own pace. He always seems so tired. I guess that's what you get when your mom is as sick as his. He leaves school once a month to go and see her. I shouldn't be thinking this while racing Sirius, he likes to play dirty. Sirius and I are already sitting with Peter, sorting presents by the time Remus FINALLY gets down here.

"Remus goes first." Sirius announced in that voice he uses when he doesn't want anyone to argue with him. "Here ya go, buddy" Sirius practically knocked Remus over with the force he put behind giving him his present. "Open it!!"

It's wrapping job looks like crap. I guess mines not any better, though. Remus' brown eyes light up when he see's what's inside. It's a pair of brand new, perfectly shiny shoes. Uh-oh. I think Pete and I just got shown up.

"Thank you so much, Sirius! These are amazing." Remus looks genuinely excited for Christmas now. He runs over to Sirius and knocks him on his back with the force of the hug.

"Me next! Me next!" I yell and pulled out the sorta wrapped present I got for Remus. "Here! Here! Here! Open it!"

I hope Remus likes it. I got him… "James! What is it?" Remus looks confused at the contents of the box.

"Reeeeemus! I thought that was obvious. It's a never ending roll of parchment paper, just for you. We won't use any of it to write pranks on, pinky promise."

Now, Remus just looks excited. We all look at Peter expectantly. He gives Remus an _almost _perfectly wrapped present. "I didn't know what to get you guys, so I got you all chocolate…" Peter says. He looks a little bit ashamed, but Remus looks ecstatic. We all know how he is about chocolate.

The mornig continues with us opening all our presents. I got a Quidditch book from my parents, a new pair of gloves for Sirius, chocolate from Pete, and a sweater from Remus. All in all, it turned out to be a good haul.

"Let's go have a snowball fight!" I yell excitedly to the other three boys, earning me a nasty look for Lily Evans in the corner. "You in Evans?" She just scoffs and rolls her eyes. She goes right back to reading.

"James, could we maybe, I don't know, EAT first!" Sirius says. It seems so obvious. In all the excitement I had forgetten I was hungry.

The four of us head down to eat, then we have an epic snowball fight, Sirius and Remus vs. Me and Pete.

It's going to be a Christmas to remember.


	2. Second Year

Christmas

Year 2

James

Something weird has been going on with Remus. We think we've figured it out. Sirius and I have been charting the days that his mom has 'gotten sick'. It's not that we don't believe him, it just seems so suspicious. On the calendar, it seems that every time Remus goes missing, it is a full moon. It's a little bit of a scary thought, living with a werewolf. Pete was the most scared about it once we figured it out. Sirius and I figure that we've lived with him for about a year and a half now, and he hasn't hurt anyone.

"Are we gunna ask him?" Sirius seems so stressed about the whole thing.

"Sure, I'll go get him. You wake up Pete." I sigh as I exit the room. This isn't exactly how I wanted to start Christmas this year. "Remus, are you down here?" I call; I'm not worried about other people. We're the only Gryffindors left behind.

"Yeah, I'm on the couch." Remus sounds so small. He looks it too, all curled up in a ball, just looking at the fireplace.

"Oh, uh, hey. Happy Christmas." I start off kinda awkwardly. I think that's why he's looking at me now.

"Yeah, Happy Christmas. Present time? I learned how much you and Sirius love it last year…" I see Remus smiling at the memory.

"Yupp! We're doing presents in our dorm room this year though." I try to sound cheery, but for some reason I think I just sound weird. Remus looks up at me, a little confused then he just shrugs. He gets up off the couch and stretches and yawns, like he's been there all night. In fact, I think he has.

"Remus, did you sleep on the couch?" I ask him, I'm really confused.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night. So, I came down here to read and I fell asleep. One of the house elves brought me a blanket, I guess." He said as he folded up the blanket he had been under. Weird, I don't even know how to fold.

We headed up the stairs and Remus was rambling about something, but I can't for the life of me listen. I'm too distracted by what's waiting up there for him.

We get to the door, and I look at him. He looks at me with a what's-going-on kinda face. Oh, this is going to be hard.

I walk in the room and immediately I go to Sirius's side. We're standing across the room from Remus, I feel like someone should go over next to him. Something shifted next to me; Sirius was walking across the room and put his arm around Remus.

"Remus," it was the most gentle I'd ever heard Sirius talk. "We need to talk to you." Sirius gestured to Pete and I as he said it.

"Ok…?" Remus looked a little bit scared, a little bit worried, and a little bit of something I can't quite put my finger on.

"We, um, we…Well, we know." I say. I'm trying to be as kind as possible, but how do you tell someone that you think they're a werewolf?!

"Y-you know?" He looks sad a scared and I think I see tears in his eyes. "Don't make me leave, p-p-please don't make me leave!" He starts bawling and Sirius pulls him into a hug.

"Make you leave?! Why would we make you leave?" Sirius asks, he sounds like he's about to cry, too.

"Because I'm a monster!" Remus is wailing now. It's really a good thing that we're the only ones here.

"You aren't a monster. You just…have a problem." Pete speaks up for the first time.

"Yeah, a furry little problem." I say. I'm really just trying to keep it together. I won't let myself cry. I won't. I won't. I won't.

Remus lets out a rueful laugh; he's still hugging Sirius tightly. "You guys aren't afraid of me?"

"Afraid? Us? We're the Marauders. We don't know the meaning of that word!" Sirius says... his voice is starting to go back to normal.

"You really don't care that I'm a…a…" Remus doesn't want to say the W-word.

"You're a what? You're a boy. You're also a Gryffindor. You're a study freak. You're practically a genius. We won't know what you mean unless you finish your sentence!" I say, trying to lighten the mood.

"He's a chocoholic!" Peter chimes in.

We all laugh. And, carry on opening our present. Remus looks around the room at us, he looks happy.

You know, he and Sirius are still holding onto each other. Sometimes, I wonder…

AN: I know that there is a lot of spelling mistakes in here. I'm trying to get across that it is a 12 year old telling the story. I plan on the spelling/grammar to progressively get better.


	3. Third Year

Christmas

Year 3

James

It's been a year since we all found out about Remus. And, you know, it's not that weird living with a werewolf. I thought it might be awkward with knowing and how we found out, but it's not at all. In fact, we talk about it tons. I call it his furry little problem.

What time is it? I suppose I should get up now and run around yelling about presents. Then again, I don't think my parents would appreciate it if I woke them up. They were kind enough to let all my friends come over for Christmas, I should let them sleep. Maybe I'll go downstairs, see what is in the kitchen.

"Good morning, James." A sleepy Remus scared me, and I jumped up in shock.

"Oh, hey, Remus," I say, equally as sleepy. "What are you doing up? I thought everyone was still asleep…" I wonder if it has something to do with sharing a room with Sirius. It really was their choice. I mean, it's not like sharing a room with Pete was my first choice. But Sirius has some weird connection with Remus. Whatever, I'm hungry.

"Sirius woke me." Remus sounds like he's laughing. "He rolled over and hit me in the face, and I couldn't fall back asleep with his snoring. You know how it is…"

"Yeah, that stinks. I'm surprised he isn't up yet. He loves Christmas even more than I do…" I opened up the cupboard and my mom had bought my favorite cereal. Sweet. "Want some cereal, Remus?"

"Yeah, thanks. Do you guys have any coffee?" It's just like Remus to want coffee. He's only thirteen and that stuff can stunt his growth. Oh, man. How funny would it be for Remus, the most dangerous one of all of us, to be the shortest? No, I think that's going to be Pete.

"Uh, yeah… I think we do. Check in the cupboard above the stove. Mom usually keeps it in there." Its Christmas morning and Remus and I are the only ones awake. Well, not for too much longer.

"I think we should get some revenge on Sirius for waking you up." I'm pretty sure I have a sly smile on my face. According to Professor Dumbledore I always look mischievous. He said the same thing to Sirius.

"How?" Remus is a little hesitant, but at the same time, he knows it'll be funny.

"Well, there is snow outside. Dumping some on him wouldn't hurt anyone, really. We just have to run away really fast right after we do it." It's a simple plan, and Sirius will probably catch us, but it's Christmas, he should go easy on us.

"Alright, but you're doing the dumping…" Remus never does stuff like this! Maybe we are finally starting to rub off on him! Cool!

There is a bucket in the shed across the yard that we can fill, I throw on my shoes and a coat over my pajamas and run out to grab it. Remus is just watching me from the back window.

I have to be really quiet, to make sure that nobody wakes up to see this.

As I'm filling the bucket I see Remus turn around and say something to somebody. I sure hope it's not Sirius. All the sudden, Pete's head pops up in the window right next to Remus. I see Remus say something to him, and Pete laughs.

The bucket is about half way full. I think that's enough. I don't want it to be too heavy. I walk back into the house as Pete is getting some cereal.

"Remus tell you the plan, Pete?"

"Yeah, he did. And you're an idiot. You know Sirius will want his revenge…" It sounds like a warning, but I know that they both want me to do this.

The three of us sneak upstairs and open the door to the guest bedroom Sirius and Remus have been sharing.

"3…2...1!" I whisper and on one, I dump the bucket on Sirius' sleeping head and run away as fast as I can.

"Arggggg!" Sirius yells and jumps out of bed. I can hear him chasing after me. If I can just make it to the kitchen…

I made it. I'm standing next to Remus eating cereal when Sirius gets down to the kitchen. He's so tired that he tripped on the way down!

"Good morning, mate." I say, totally calmly. "You know, our pal Remus here has been awake for quite a while. Everyone knows how he loves his sleep. Well, somebody rolled over this morning and hit him in the face and then that same somebody's snoring kept him from going back to sleep. What a shame. I think Remus got his revenge though…."

By this time the three of us are roaring with laughter. While Sirius stands there in wet pajama's with a stupid look on his face.

"You?" He looks at Remus in disbelief. All of us bust up laughing all over again.

Then, we hear footsteps upstairs. My parents are finally awake! This means it's time for presents!

"Present time! You might want to go get some dry clothes on, Sirius…" Remus chuckles at my comment.

I'm glad that he is so normal being a werewolf and all. Sometimes I wonder if that's why he never causes any trouble.

My dad and mom reach the bottom of the stairs just as an annoyed Sirius goes walking up.

"James! What on earth did you do to that poor boy? He is soaking wet!" My mom would eet mad at me if I told her the truth.

"Well, you see, Sirius has a problem with sleep walking and this morning he was sleep walking and he went right into the shower. He woke up, though, the moment he turned it on." I give my mom my million dollar innocent smile. I can tell she doesn't believe me, but what can she do? I glance over at my dad and see him trying to hold in his laughter.

"Boys, is that really what happened?" Uh-oh. She just asked Remus and Pete. I'm only worried that Pete might tell her.

"No idea." Remus tells her.

"Not a clue." Pete says just as determined. I'm out of trouble this time, unless Sirius tells her. I don't think he will though. My present should make up for it.

When Sirius came back down the stairs he sighed loudly, and way over dramatically.

"I should really stop sleep walking!" He exclaimed and threw a wink in my direction.

Mom just rolled her eyes and continued to sort presents.

I got a new broom from his parents, a watch from Remus, a bag of tricks from Zonko's from Sirius and a bag of treats from Pete.

After all the presents were opened and everyone got dressed, mom and dad took us into London to hang out because dad had to stop by St. Mungos and check on one of his patients. All and all, it was one of the best Christmas' yet!


End file.
